CoreLogic: Home Price Index Rises by 10.2 Percent Year Over Year in February: The Biggest Increase in Nearly Seven Years; Home Prices in Huntington-Ashland Increase

By David M. Kinchen

CoreLogic® (NYSE: CLGX), a leading residential property information, analytics and services provider, on Wednesday, April 3, 2013 released its February CoreLogic HPI® report. Home prices nationwide, including distressed sales, increased 10.2 percent on a year-over-year basis in February 2013 compared to February 2012.

This change represents the biggest year-over-year increase since March 2006 and the 12th consecutive monthly increase in home prices nationally. On a month-over-month basis, including distressed sales, home prices increased by 0.5 percent in February 2013 compared to January 2013*.Excluding distressed sales, home prices increased on a year-over-year basis by 10.1 percent in February 2013 compared to February 2012. On a month-over-month basis, excluding distressed sales, home prices increased 1.5 percent in February 2013 compared to January 2013. Distressed sales include short sales and real estate owned (REO) transactions.

The CoreLogic Pending HPI indicates that March 2013 home prices, including distressed sales, are also expected to rise by 10.2 percent on a year-over-year basis from March 2012 and rise by 1.2 percent on a month-over-month basis from February 2013. Excluding distressed sales, March 2013 home prices are poised to rise 11.4 percent year over year from March 2012 and by 2.0 percent month over month from February 2013. The CoreLogic Pending HPI is a proprietary and exclusive metric that provides the most current indication of trends in home prices. It is based on Multiple Listing Service (MLS) data that measure price changes for the most recent month.

“The rebound in prices is heavily driven by western states. Eight of the top ten highest appreciating large markets are in California, with Phoenix and Las Vegas rounding out the list,” said Dr. Mark Fleming, chief economist for CoreLogic, based in Irvine, CA.

“Home prices continued their march upward in February. Nationally, home prices improved at the best rate since mid-2006, marking a full year of annual increases and underscoring the ongoing strengthening of market fundamentals,” said Anand Nallathambi, president and CEO of CoreLogic. “Continued home price appreciation will provide fuel needed to drive further recovery in the home purchase market.”

Home Prices in Huntington-Ashland Increase

In Huntington-Ashland, home prices, including distressed sales, increased by 5.7 percent in February 2013 compared to February 2012. On a month-over-month basis, home prices, including distressed sales, decreased by 0.6 percent in February 2013 compared to January 2013.

Excluding distressed sales, year-over-year prices increased by 7.4 percent in February 2013 compared to February 2012. On a month-over-month basis, excluding distressed sales, the CoreLogic HPI indicates home prices increased by 0.9 percent in February 2013 compared to January 2013.

Including distressed transactions, the peak-to-current change in the national HPI (from April 2006 to February 2013) was -26.3 percent. Excluding distressed transactions, the peak-to-current change in the HPI for the same period was -19.3 percent.

The five states with the largest peak-to-current declines, including distressed transactions, were Nevada (-50.8 percent), Florida (-43.3 percent), Michigan (-39.0 percent), Arizona (-38.5 percent) and Rhode Island (-36.4 percent).

Of the top 100 Core Based Statistical Areas (CBSAs) measured by population, 96 were showing year-over-year increases in February, up from 94 in January.

*January data was revised. Revisions with public records data are standard, and to ensure accuracy, CoreLogic incorporates the newly released public data to provide updated results.

February HPI for the Country’s Largest CBSAs by Population (Sorted by Single Family Including Distressed):

CBSA

February 2013 12-Month HPI
Change by CBSA

Single-Family Including Distressed

Single-Family Excluding Distressed

Phoenix-Mesa-Glendale, AZ

20.8%

18.2%

Los Angeles-Long Beach-Glendale, CA

14.5%

14.4%

Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario, CA

13.2%

13.6%

Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA

12.4%

10.6%

New York-White Plains-Wayne, NY-NJ

9.7%

10.0%

Washington-Arlington-Alexandria, DC-VA-MD-WV

8.0%

8.7%

Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX

7.5%

9.6%

Dallas-Plano-Irving, TX

7.3%

9.5%

Philadelphia, PA

3.2%

4.0%

Chicago-Joliet-Naperville, IL

0.3%

6.9%

Source: CoreLogic.

February National and State HPI (Sorted by Single Family Including Distressed):